 is perhaps the best documented of any book printed in the fifteenth century, owing to the survival of the contract between the printer Anton Koberger (c.1445–1513) and his financial partners Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister, the contract between Koberger and the artists, and the surviving manuscript exemplars. 

 (1471–1528), godson of Koberger, was apprenticed to Wolgemut from 1486–1489, during the period Wolgemut's shop was busy creating the woodcuts for this volume.

Documents in the Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg, reveal that Schedel was not the sole author. A surviving Latin manuscript template shows the handwriting of seven contributors, with Schedel supplying the largest portion. As the 

 draws on a wide variety of sources, in some cases adapted verbatim, it is perhaps more appropriate to refer to Schedel and his co-writers as compilers rather than authors.

This double-page world map titled 'Secunda Etas Mundi' ('The Second Age of the World') is a detailed woodcut derived from Ptolemaic projections. Published only months after Christopher Columbus' return from the West Indies, this map can be considered one of the last pre-Columbian world maps. Seven vignettes to the left of the map and a further fourteen on its reverse feature marvellous beings described by Pliny the Elder that were thought to inhabit the furthermost parts of the earth. Among these are a six-armed man ('gegenees'), a centaur, a four-eyed man from a coastal tribe in Ethiopia, a dog-headed man ('cynocephalus') from the Simien Mountains, a cyclops, a man with a single giant foot ('sciapod'), a man with a huge lower lip, a man with ears hanging down to his waist ('panotti'), and other startling and fanciful creatures. 

Geographically, the map is very similar to the map added to a new edition of 

 in 1482. Ratdolt was known to have settled in Augsburg after 1486, which explains the availability of his map in Germany. Generally, the map follows the orthodox belief of a landlocked Indian Ocean with a distorted but clear depiction of the lands of the East. 

The world map is widely regarded as the work of Nuremberg physician and humanist Hieronymous Münzer (1437–1508), who also contributed to the book's text. Stylistically, Münzer’s map emulates Ratdolt’s 1482 edition in its simplicity, with few features in the interior. This draws particular attention to the great rivers of the world such as the Nile in Egypt and the Volga and Ural, both discharging into the Caspian Sea. This clarity is a marked departure from its predecessors published in the 'Ulm Ptolemy' (1482 and 1486). The major innovation on Münzer’s map is the inclusion of Portuguese 'discoveries' on the west coast of Africa, accounting for the elongated coastline of the continent in comparison to previous Ptolemaic maps. In addition, this map also has a large unidentified island off the west of the continent, perhaps referencing Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto’s 'discovery' of the Cape Verde Islands in 1456.

Published 12 July 1493

The Sunderland Collection

A handsome example of the world map from the 'Nuremberg Chronicle', from the first edition and in original hand colour. The map is on the Ptolemaic conical projection and was heavily influenced by the simple woodblock world map used to illustrate Pomponius Mela's 'Cosmographia' (1482).

This map was printed shortly after Christopher Columbus returned from his first voyage, and is therefore the last important early European map to show the world before these new 'discoveries' would be printed on maps. It features the three sons of Noah - Sem, Cham and Japhet - who were believed to have populated the world after the Great Flood described in the Book of Genesis. To the left of the map are images of strange mythical creatures who were thought to live in the furthest regions of the globe.

Schedel’s world chronicle has appeared under various names but is generally referred to as the 'Nuremberg Chronicle' in English and the 'Schedelsche Weltchronik' in German. Though he does give special focus to Nuremberg and German history, a subject he felt was neglected in contemporary chronicles, the 'Nuremberg Chronicle' is in fact a history of the world modelled after a longstanding medieval genre. Schedel’s work, however, would far surpass previous chronicles with its ambitious, lavish decoration. The work contains an astounding 1,809 woodcut illustrations from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519). Only 645 printing blocks were used, however, and a number of portraits, city views, diagrams and embellishments are repeated several times.

Stretching from the dawn of Creation to the date of publication, the ‘Nuremberg Chronicle’ interweaves world events with digressions about natural catastrophes, celestial phenomena, wars, reports of the founding of cities, and other local matters. It is structured into Six Ages of Man following the Biblical analogy to the six days of creation, with a brief seventh age that details the coming of the Antichrist and the Last Judgement as foretold in the Book of Revelations. Events occurring in other parts of the world are inserted parallel to the Biblical stories. Following this, somewhat unsystematically, are descriptions of various towns with particular emphasis on the most important cities of Germany and the Western world. In many cases the Chronicle features the first known illustrations of the cities in question, along with the story of their foundation, the etymology of their names, and a painstaking list of facts about cultural life, economy, and trades flourishing there in the period around 1490.

A hand-coloured first edition of the world map from the 'Nuremberg Chronicle', published in the year of Christopher Columbus’s return to Europe from the West Indies.

World Map from the 'Nuremberg Chronicle'